'Guardians' a lively 3-D storybook spree

A very odd assortment of mythical childhood figures, some of them afflicted with severe emotional insecurities and inferiority complexes, are thrown together as an unlikely set of action heroes in "The Rise of the Guardians," an attractively designed but overly busy and derivative mishmash of kid-friendly elements.

A sort of Justice League or Avengers equivalent made up of the fearsome team of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost, this final DreamWorks Animation production will play in a predictably agreeable and profitable fashion to small fry.

The script, by David Lindsay-Abaire, plays fast and loose with these legendary fixtures of childhood, attaching to them all sorts of neuroses, feelings of inadequacy and the sense, or threat, of being ignored. Some might find this tack delightfully mischievous, but it's just as easy to reject as ridiculous the notion that Jack Frost -- a free spirit very much like Peter Pan who can fly around anywhere he wants -- suffers from an emotional trauma he suffered hundreds of years earlier.

Perhaps the most readily amusing of the gang is Santa, or, as he is more geographically named here, North.

A muscular powerhouse rather than a fatso, North has heavily tatted forearms and, as wonderfully voiced by Alec Baldwin, sports a distinctive Russian accent not inappropriate to the proximity of that country to his palatial mountainside workshop.

Also gathering here are the rangy and rascally E. Aster Bunnymund (an excellent Hugh Jackman), the hummingbird-like Tooth (or Tooth Fairy, delightfully rendered by Isla Fisher), the mute and tubby spinner of gold Sandman and, ultimately, Jack (a fine Chris Pine), who has wandered the globe alone for centuries and feels woefully unrecognized compared to the others because he has no special day or occasion to make an imprint on the lives of children.

All the same, Jack is hard-pressed by North to join in the battle against Pitch (as in pitch black), a diabolical figure (plausibly acted by Jude Law) who, after a long absence, has returned to throw Earth into darkness and provide much-needed nightmares to kids everywhere.

So while Jack tries to sort out his issues of neglect and struggles over whether or not to join the others, the battle against the lord of the night commences.

"The Rise of the Guardians," rated PG for thematic elements and some mildly scary action, opens today at Brenden Theatres Vacaville 16.